SXSW at last! Panels, Friends, Tim Ferriss, Jeff Bezos, Grupo Fantasmo!
…and, what SXSW event would be compete without Robert Scoble (pictured, left). The man is everywhere!
So, I slithered into the conference center Saturday morning after an appalling breakfast at a Chowhound recommended spot. I won’t go into the gory details, but suffice it to say, avoid El Arroyo at all costs.
Went through the usual registration process, which was much shorter this year. It also felt alarmingly spacious this year, even with press reports of attendance numbers being much higher than in previous years. Almost immediately, I stumbled upon former co-worker/serial entrepreneur Jesse Thomas and his co-partner-in-crime Leslie Bradshaw. Together we explored the hall and made our way down to Screen Burn, which was twice the size as last year and much more interesting. They’ve added a competitive gaming “arena,” which looked akin to an American Gladiators set. Shortly after, bumped into Chris, the fifth party from yesterday’s fiasco and we struck up a short convo.
Ambled about for awhile, then spotted Tim Ferriss, who I consider a mad genius. Proposed my pared-down, snail’s-pace approach to his 4-Hour Workweek methodology, which he seemed to take with good measure. He offered that he was currently dealing with a “water obsession” that I didn’t get the full details on. Generally, he seemed like a cool guy, approachable and not ridiculously full of himself, like could be imagined.
Soon thereafter, I popped over to the opening keynote, but got a “red alert” call from a friend that I had to take outside. While gabbing, I saw the AOL posse, including members of the AIM team, and ex-AOL’ers Eliot, Ari and Elsa (who is incidentally one of my favorite photographers).
From there, checked out The Art of Speed panel featuring Evan Williams from Twitter and Mr. Ferriss at the helm. A good panel, though as usual, veered off-topic substantially. To Tim’s credit, he did try to steer it back on course a few times. Some inside commentary on last year’s Twitter spotlight, including key points about how exposure helped propel it forward. Ferriss appointed some of his own success to SXSW and it’s evangelical throngs, who help to multiply promotion through a Gladwell-like effect. Ferriss finds that taking time with crafting long, thoughtful emails to the right people outweighs mass-emailed, unfocused campaigns. Additionally, don’t bother trying to summon love from the iGods like Arrington, instead find specialized targets, such as bloggers that are niche-driven and read by people like Arrington, who can thus create exposure on a larger scale without the immediate connections.
During a break, saw Amazon’s chief Jeff Bezos in the coffee line and asked him if he was on a panel. He laughed and responded, “No, I’m on vacation, I’m just here to listen.” He seemed to be quite happy with his passive role.
Headed over the Coudal’s ‘A General Theory of Creative Relativity’ was a lofty-sounding panel, but he managed to bring it down to earth. Coudal’s spirited take on fusing physics principles with design manifestation proved to be a sound treatise. Using Einsteinian variables and “the spark” as reference points, he distilled the sometimes toxic substance of design methodology down to a fine and sometimes humorous solution. His take on inspiration was fresh and inviting, especially when members of the audience shared their votes on “Booked Bands,” a whimsical combination of book titles and band names. Though I didn’t get up on the mic (Mike), mine were “The Tipping Pointer Sisters” and “The Art of Gwar.”
After an above-average BBQ feast at Rudy’s Country Store over on Capital of Texas Highway (much, much too far for most SXSW-ers), I drove over to the Frog Party, which was already going full clip. The packed Mexican American Cultural Center was a massive scene of imbibing legions. Finally met up with the Discovery folks and made our way inside to set a mind-blowing, exceedingly rhythmic set by the outstanding Grupo Fantasma, who, at least for the moment, channeled the inner-Latino in all of us non-Latinos. Met up with old AOL friend Tom Osborne.
After that, we headed out back to catch the fire dancers, who, in spite of a great act, seemed to be flinging small bits of some apparently fearful substance, which had the AOL (and ex) posse seated in front launching into a mad dash.
A fanstastic(mo) night from Frog, who spared no expense at creating a night for remember.
Tags: austin, conference, Design, sxsw, Tech, texas, Travel, webdesign
